Income Inequality and Electoral Choice

This project aims to identify whether income inequality influences electoral choice. In particular, the paper will deal with voting behavior of so-called left-authoritarians. These voters are categorized as left-leaning concerning the economic dimension and authoritarian (as opposed to liberal) on the socio-cultural dimension. It is worthwhile examining this group, due to the fact that only few parties across Europe can be characterized as left-authoritarian. Thus, if no party represents the voters¿ opinion bundle, they have to choose between right-authoritarian and left-liberal parties, either prioritizing the socio-cultural or the economic dimension. The aim of this paper is to study whether the level of income inequality has an influence on which dimension is valued more highly by left-authoritarians.